Defense to make case in sex assault trial of coach

The defense will make its case today in the trial of Rory McKellips, a former central Wisconsin girls’ high school basketball coach accused of sexually assaulting a player. Marathon County prosecutors rested their case Thursday, after more than three days of testimony. It was not immediately known whether the 56-year-old McKellips would testify in his own defense.

He’s accused of having sexual contact three times in the summer of 2011 with a girl who was 15. He was coaching at Athens High School at the time. McKellips previous coached at Mosinee High School for 16 years, where he won a state Division 2 championship. He also spent a year coaching at Wisconsin Valley Lutheran High School.

On Thursday, jurors were told that McKellips and the girl exchanged almost two-thousand text messages, and numerous phone calls – and he gave her a prepaid cell-phone after her parents expressed concerns about their repeated calls.

The trial is scheduled to wrap up today, but officials say it could run into the weekend.